Marin County’s hidden conservatives *UPDATED*

It was Aristotle who first stated that man is a social animal. He was right. Humans define themselves by their allegiance to their family, their community and their country. The ancient desert rule condemning a thief to lose his hand (an idea that Mohammed co-opted), was not intended simply to cause physical pain and suffering. Instead, in a society without cutlery, amputation meant that the thief had to use the same hand for both eating and personal hygiene. This revolting combination turned the one-handed thief into a social pariah — and it was this change in status that was the true punishment imposed against him.

In America, we can break the social compact in many ways, all of them less extreme than having our hands cut off. We can cheat, abuse our spouses and children, shoplift, forget to bathe, or admit to liking Liberace. Most Americans, however, pride themselves on their tolerance and will let all of these failures go by without the ultimate social weapons of abuse and ostracism. In many of these same ostensibly tolerant places, though, there is one sin that is unforgivable, so much so that it cannot be excused away by pointing to a bad childhood, socioeconomic handicaps or charming eccentricity. That sin is being politically conservative. I live in one of those communities.

For those who don’t know it, Marin County is located due north of San Francisco (on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge). It’s a gorgeously situated community, bounded on one side by the San Francisco Bay and on the other side by the Pacific Ocean. Drive a little ways further north and you’ll find yourself in the world-famous Napa Valley. Not only is the Marin geography lovely, so is the climate, with temperatures ranging from winter lows in the 50s to summer highs in the 70s (barring a few heat waves).

Although one might think that, with Marin’s wealth, it would be rather like the old style white-shoe conservative communities one finds in the Northeast or South, that assumption would be wrong. Instead, Marin is peopled with the same elites who have been flocking to Obama all America — and that’s despite the fact that there’s no University of note here.

Just to give you an idea of Marin’s politics, Lynn Woolsey is Marin’s choice for the House of Representatives and ultra-liberal California Senator Barbara Boxer hails from Marin. In the State Senate, Marin’s representative is Carole Migden, who lives to oppose the War (and who will probably be replaced by Mark Leno, who makes Migden look stodgy politically).

Given that liberals are in the catbird seat, and given their much-vaunted tolerance, one might think that they’d be kind to, indeed solicitous of, the few Republicans in the midst. Sadly, however, that’s not the case. As regular readers know, I’ve chosen to keep my political life separate from the day-to-day aspects of my life. I simply can’t (and don’t want to) run the risk of tainting my carpools, my neighborhood barbecues, my kids’ comfort level at school, the camaraderie of the sports teams with which we’re involved, etc., by exposing myself to the obloquy that is routinely heaped on conservatives here — and this is a hostility that increases as elections draw near, of course.

During the 2004 elections, people who were unaware of my political inclinations announced in front of me that “Bush is the worst President ever,” “Republicans are stupid,” “Republicans are evil,” “Bush is stupid,” “Republicans are corrupt,” “Republicans are fascists” and “Bush should be impeached.” Children ran up to me on the sidewalk chanting “Bush is evil, Bush is evil” — so you know what their parents were saying at the dinner table. In this election cycle, one of my children announced after school that she was voting for Barack Obama “since every one is because he’s black.” I quickly scotched that line of reasoning.

I know I should be speaking out when I hear statements such as these, but the sad fact is that I like these people. Barring their monomaniacal animosity towards Bush and the Republicans, they’re otherwise very nice: they’re hard workers, loving parents, good neighbors and helpful and reliable friends. Being the social creature that I am, I don’t want with one word (“Republican”) to turn these friendships upside down and inside out. (I’m not the only one with this problem.) I don’t want to be on the receiving end of some hideous Jekyll to Hyde transformation, so I just keep my mouth shut.

Those people I know who have spoken aloud their new conservative political views have been horrified by the animosity turned against them by formerly friendly neighbors and colleagues. My in-laws who are, like me, 9/11 neocons (down in Los Angeles) have stared open-mouthed at colleagues who use staff meetings to revile Bush and the Republicans — all to the cheers and huzzahs of the other staff members. (Indeed, what they describe sounds remarkably like Orwell’s Two Minutes Hate.) On the occasions when they’ve suggested that maybe, just maybe, Bush isn’t the Antichrist, they’ve found themselves shunned by these same colleagues.

Zucker and Sokoloff met Farley in April 2007. Zucker described his new film with words he had chosen carefully. “I figured he was like everyone else in Hollywood–a Democrat,” Zucker recalls. “And we knew that this was not a Democrat movie.” It would be a satirical look at the war on terror, he told Farley, and explained that he and Sokoloff were political “moderates.”

Farley hadn’t seen any of Zucker’s ads and assumed he was like everyone else in Hollywood–a Democrat. So he answered with some strategic ambiguity of his own. “I consider myself a centrist,” he said, worried that they might press him more about his political views.

Zucker gave Farley the script and, concerned that Farley’s agent would advise him against accepting the role because of the film’s politics, told the actor not to show it to anyone. Farley, best known for his recurring role in a series of Hertz commercials, read the script and called back the next day to accept.

When he met Zucker and Sokoloff on the set as shooting on the film began, he told them that he, too, had long considered himself a conservative. “I couldn’t believe it,” says Sokoloff. “We were afraid that he would not want to be involved in something that was so directly taking on the left and that he would not want to play the Michael Moore character.”

Zucker’s and Farley’s delicate dance would be funny if it weren’t for the fact that ordinary Hollywood types aren’t shy about stating that people with the wrong political persuasion should not be employed. A perfect example came when Jeffrey Wells (a well-known Hollywood cybergossip) commented on Jon Voight’s op-ed criticizing the Left:

I’ll always admire and respect Voight’s better performances (Luke in Coming Home, Reynolds in Enemy of the State, Ed in Deliverance, Howard Cosell in Ali, Manny in Runaway Train, FDR in Pearl Harbor, Jack in Desert Bloom, Paul Serone in Anaconda). And he’s obviously entitled to say and write whatever he wants. But it’s only natural that industry-based Obama supporters will henceforth regard him askance. Honestly? If I were a producer and I had to make a casting decision about hiring Voight or some older actor who hadn’t pissed me off with an idiotic Washington Times op-ed piece, I might very well say to myself, “Voight? Let him eat cake.”

Wells later delivered a non-apology apology in which he wondered why everyone got so upset that he merely expressed his personal opinion, especially since he has no actual hiring or firing power over Voight. Maybe everyone got upset because Wells’ opinion — that people should be discriminated against on a systematic basis because they support the “wrong” party in a two-party system — is both really bad one and one that people close to the industry feel comfortable voicing aloud.

In Hollywood, everything is writ large, whether it’s rampant Progressivism or a growing subterranean conservative movement. In Marin, though, I’m seeing the same thing played out on a less dramatic scale, with more and more secret conservatives inching about on the outskirts. This fact struck me forcibly last week when I finally pried myself away from my keyboard and did something more active to advance John McCain’s candidacy — I attended the first formal meeting of the local Republican party.

Contrary to my expectations, the meeting was not held in some $25 million dollar Belvedere mansion (’cause remember that, in Belvedere, there are eight more Republicans than Democrats). Instead, it was held in a perfectly ordinary (although very charming) home a few blocks from my own house. By Marin standards, it was solid middle class.

With about 25 of us clustered about the living room, the local chair called the meeting to order, and asked us to begin by identifying ourselves. One after another, people stated their names and their City. Everything stopped, though, when a young woman, maybe 25, spoke her name very softly and added that “I’m a secret Republican.” With that single statement, the stories started.

One of the attendees, who had been asked to make phone calls on behalf of McCain, said that he spoke to one lady who said, “Don’t call me again. I’m going to vote Republican, but I can’t let anybody know. It’s got to stay a secret.” Another person recalled a party he attended a few months ago. When he mentioned, discreetly, that he was a Republican, a young lady sidled up to him and whispered, “I’m conservative too, but don’t let anyone know. I also have two friends here. I’ll point them out to you. They’re also secret conservatives.” Incidentally, I was unable to interview either of the people who told these anecdotes because both were afraid that any more details might give away their identities and harm them professionally. (Clearly, in their lines of work, they need two resumes, one for public consumption and one that is their secret one.)

The people who told these stories were white — and they were still afraid to voice their political views. Things get even worse when you move into the two demographics that have a particularly strong affiliation with the Democratic party: African-Americans and Hispanics. People in these groups who are conservative are viewed, not merely as evil or stupid, but as true class traitors. If it’s difficult for a white woman or man to admit to that he worries about Obama and intends to vote for McCain, imagine the strength of character, and the willingness to accept pariah-status that you need if you’re an African-American or Hispanic voter who has a political yearning to be conservative. As it happens, at my local McCain meeting, there was one Hispanic and one African-American, both of whom are deeply committed to conservative values. Again, neither wanted to see his or her name, or any identifying information, used in this post.

Once upon a time, I would have added Jews to the list of groups too strongly affiliated with the Democratic party to allow for any deviation from the party line. However, I think that Obama is proving so frightening to many Jews who support Israel that they are become bolder and more willing to break with party Orthodoxy. (Not to mention the fact that they’ve seen the Left make common cause with the same Islamists who call Jews pigs and apes, and who urge their annihilation.) While they once looked askance at the few conservatives within their midst, they are now approaching them, not only with respectful curiosity, but with a genuine desire to learn why it won’t run counter to Mosaic law for a Jew to vote Republican.

I’m not writing this post merely to complain about my own situation, or to observe that there are others like me. I hope to write it as a battle call for other crypto-conservatives scattered throughout the United States in true blue communities: You are not alone! And if you need numbers to prove it, as opposed to the anecdotal evidence I offer here, in 2004, despite the fact that only 30,992 registered voters in Marin were Republican, 34,378 people voted Republican. In other words, a good chunk of Marin’s voters — whether Independents, Decline to States, or even Democrats — were voting Republican the last time around, and that was with a much less polarizing Democratic candidate than Obama.

I have a proposal for all of you reading this who live in hostile Blue territory and feel isolated in your conservative political views. The next time you’re at a party, or chit chatting in a park, or standing in line at a store, if the person to whom you’re talking seems like an intelligent, common-sensical type, throw in a reference to Adam Smith. If your conversational partner jumps on that reference, opining that Smith was a great economic philosopher, you’ve just discovered that you’re not alone.

Even if you chose, however, to keep your political affiliations secret — whether because you’re afraid for your job, worried about your friendships, or are just deeply private — please hie yourself to the polls on November 4, 2008, and cast your vote for John McCain. I have a strong suspicion that there’ll be an awful lot of unexpected votes for McCain, not because people are too racist to voice their true political viewpoints to the pollsters, but because they are too intimidated by the Progressives around them to do so.

Lastly, if you live in Marin, get involved with the Marin for McCain organization. I can promise you that we’ll respect your conservative secrets — especially since so many of us have a few of our own. (And if you live somewhere other than Marin, look up your local Republican organization. I bet you’ll be pleasant surprised by the people you meet there.)

UPDATE: Thinking about it, I wonder if this urge to keep ones identity secret isn’t more common amongst women than men. In my experience, women are more likely to seek conciliatory relationships than men, and are more likely to be demoralized, rather than invigorated, by a direct confrontation. What do you think? Am I being sexist or is this election’s secret army (assuming there is one), going to boast an unusually large number of women?

In my world view– ultimate Truth= “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but through me. -John 14:6

That was a statement by Jesus.

Ozzie

Your question implies there is no objective truth- Brian

I didnt say that. Science deals in objective truth.

But since most truth is subjective, it’s not Truth at all.

To me, the Truth is what God sees when he looks at a situation and the search for Truth is the noblist of endeavors. When I read something I tend to ask, “Is that true?” which is why most broad statements sound ridiculous.

Brian: “In my world view– ultimate Truth= “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but through me. -John 14:6”

That isnt objective either. Hindus, Jews, Buddhists and Muslims dont see it this way, so how can it be the TRUTH?

Helen (#49), that is exactly right, and is one of the main points of my post. I put the feminine perspective in an update, but you’ll notice that I put the African-American and Hispanic point in the body of the post. And as you recall, my opening was that man is a social animal — and some (wo)men are more social than others. Ostracism is a terrible crime. Recall that in Europe in the olden days, banishment or outlawry were horrific punishments, even though they seemed merciful compared to outright execution. For many, being cut off from civilized society resulted in death of the spirit or the body.

suek

There’s a reason they’re called “left” and “right”….

Left is out in left field, and right is right.

Ellie2

Ozzie,

You are confusing facts with truth. There was a famous guy in Jerusalem who was similarly confused:

“I [Jesus] came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth.” “Truth?” asks Pilate, “what is that?” Jn 18:37-38

Or, Superman who “stands for Truth, Justice and the American Way.”

There is a poem that begins “I would be true, for there are those who trust me …”

Truth thus is more like light than gravity.

BrianE

Ozzie,
Maybe BW will start a topic titled “What is Truth” or “Can We Know the Truth.
It’s odd, but the plight of the Jews throughout history, in my mind, affirms the special place they have before God as His chosen people.

“I am a Jew. I glory in belonging to that pursuasion, which even its opponents, whether Christian or Mohammedian, allow to be of divine origin; of that pursuasion on which Christianity itself was originally founded and must ultimately rest; which has preserved its faith secure and undefiled for near 3,000 years; whose votaries have never murdered each other in religious wars or cherished the theological hatred so general, so unextinguishable among those who revile them. A pursuasion whose patient followers have endured for ages the pious cruelties of pagans and Christians, and persevered in the unoffending practice of their rites and ceremonies, amidst poverties and privations, amidst pains, penalties, confiscations, banishments, tortures, and deaths, beyond the example of any other sect which the page of history has ever recorded.” – Benjamin Nones, August 11, 1800

Their treatment has certainly been unique, envy perhaps?

Ozzie

You are confusing facts with truth. There was a famous guy in Jerusalem who was similarly confused: – Ellie

“I [Jesus] came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth.” “Truth?” asks Pilate, “what is that?” Jn 18:37-38

People often evoke Jesus to prove that they are in possession of the truth.

Unfortunately, there are conflicting accounts.

Can Buddhists possess the truth? Can Jews? And what’s with all the Catholic-bashing from other Christian sects?

Ymarsakar

Unfortunately, there are conflicting accounts.

just because they aren’t making war on each other doesn’t mean they need people to make them do so.

Those who join a Masonic sect or other societies of the same sort, which plot against the Church or against legitimate civil authority, incur ipso facto an excommunication simply reserved to the Holy See. (c. 2335).

Ellie2

Ozzie,

My question to you was “what is truth?” Forget the Jesus part; focus on the Superman part.
Forget the “American Way” part.

What is “truth” what is “justice” (and are they linked in some way?)

Ozzie

Ozzie,

My question to you was “what is truth?” Forget the Jesus part; focus on the Superman part.
Forget the “American Way” part. — Ellie

To me, Truth is what God sees when he views a situation.

It’s very difficult for people to know the Truth, but seeking the Truth is the noblest of endeavors.

And yes, I believe that since God is just, Truth and Justice are intertwined.

One of my favorite quotes is from Thomas Jefferson, who said “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever. . . ” regarding slavery.

Jefferson, of course, owned slaves.

People, stuck in their own experiences, times and viewpoints, have a hard time seeing the Truth and an even harder time living by it.

Ellie2

Ozzie,

Excellent! First you have to realize that “truth” exists. I feel for the generations who were educated in an era of “relativism,” who deny that there is such a thing as “truth.”

Ellie

Warren

Hmmm. Thought I recognized the country in your header image. I’ve lived in Petaluma for the last 38 years and certainly recognize your predicament, Bookroom. When I moved here in 1970 I was young and liberal. Indeed, I originally registered to vote in the Peace & Freedom party. (Thought it would help me meet girls. Discovered that I didn’t WANT to meet the ones in P&F soon enough.) Over the years I’ve re-registered as a Democrat, then years ago as a Republican. The comment attributed to Reagan that he “didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me”, applies to me as well.

Suffice to say, I grew up.

Petaluma however, seems to have tacked the opposite direction. What was a typical small, agricultural town with values similar to those of Flagstaff, AZ, where I grew up, has become a remarkably liberal town. I’m typing this in a neighborhood festooned with Obama bumper stickers. (One’s on my neighbor’s recycle bin in fact.)

Your post spoke rather eloquently to me. I don’t have political bumper stickers on my car or my home, and while I’m hardly shy about politics when asked, I do not advertise the fact that I’m conservative. Most simply assume I’m a liberal like themselves since it’s inconceivable that I wouldn’t be.

I also own and shoot firearms, lately in competition. But I don’t wear the IDPA ball cap anywhere but the range as it has a big black image of a semiauto pistol on it. So it appears I’m applying the same rules here too. No (silly) 2nd Amendment stickers on the door, because I just don’t need the grief.

Thanks Bookworm, for a very good post. I’m still sitting here thinking about it and probably will for some time. I have your blog bookmarked now, so I’ll be back.

I’m in much deeper than you are I guess. The best I can hope to get away with is a Nader/Gonzales sign in my window, anything to support the cause.
But I do get a lot of pleasure out of carefully peeling back a layer of sanity from my unsuspecting social interactors. Yes, like “Oh, you’re familiar with the idea that making one nation wealthy will likely make its neighboring nations wealthy too?” Or, “Yeah, I know what you mean about the stiffling effects the unions have on education.” ahhhh bliss.

It is sad that so many Conservatives feel the need to hide their beliefs, living like Marranos fleeing the Inquisition. This would be a fascinating sociology dissertation-but would never grace the halls of UC Berkeley.
I know I am more open-minded now as a Conservative than I ever was as a Liberal. I accepted certain positions, was certain I had more moral virtue, reacted emotionally, and was poorly informed. For example, as an undergrad at UCB I was distraught and nearly cried when I heard Reagan was running for president. I laughed at his film festival, “ha, someone who wants to be president made a movie with a chimpanzee. What a moron”. He was bad, I knew it. Problem was, even then I knew that I did not know any of his positions or past actions. I judged, based on prejudice and family and social pressure. Ditto the one I voted for- just followed the party line. A free thinker? Not.

I judged others too. I was appalled by smart people I knew who held Conservative views. I couldn’t hear them. It was a process of years, and it started with me learning and understandning the issues. Now I can explain why I think the way do. rarely is there a Liberal who wants to hear it.

I know many people who are unaware that the positions they support are conservative. I have been tempted to reply to an acquaintance who sent me an article, “Are you aware that Krauthammer (article’s author) is a leading conservative thinker and that the reason that you had to send his article is because there is no one in the party which you religiously support who is willing to say the same thing?” But, what’s the point? She despises Bush, still has a Kerry bumpersticker on her car ( and what does that mean? I believe it is a sign of Bush protest but also a sign of lack of support for Nobama).

It is sad, Helen, that I would not be willing to dissent in a staff meeting where my tolerant co-workers would categorize me and verbally attack me. Why bother? In a small gathering I might, depending upon who was there, but Helen, if people do not feel safe expressing their views to their progressive colleagues and friends, something is seriously wrong. I am tired of Conservatives being portrayed as the equivalent of the KKK. The tolerant left will tolerate no dissension. Irony.

Gradchica

Professors regularly ranted against Bush during the last election cycle before class would start (and sometimes during class), just assuming we grad students were behind them. Woe to the one “out of the closet” conservative who was called on the carpet each time to answer for anything any Republican has ever done that the prof didn’t agree with (nope, that wasn’t me, I hadn’t become conservative yet, but even so, such behavior made me very uncomfortable).

So now I drive around my university town–to the organic market, the Whole Foods, and the recycling center–with my pro-life bumper stickers and my organic food cloth bags, and just to further just stump people, I let them know I’m a vegetarian (yet, at the same time fervently praying that my profs won’t find out about my extra-curricular activism before my qualifying exams, and cringing when my colleagues would ask for rides). The pro-life stuff might be fobbed off on my being a Catholic (obviously brainwashed, since “thinking people” wouldn’t actually believe stuff like absolute truth), but do I dare put a McCain sticker on my car or a sign in my window? I’ll keep my car un-keyed, thank you.

To become truly inclusive, we must include those who exclude others and, maybe even, us. Otherwise, we’re still part of the “we-they” problem, having done nothing but changed sides.

Zhombre

Helen, I don’t have the foggiest idea what you said.

suek

She’s saying that you shouldn’t reject those who reject you. That the only way to achieve unity is to incorporate even those who disagree with you. That otherwise you have polarization, and dissension.

Sounds rather amoebic to me. You can consume poison, but if it stays within your system, it will still kill you. What does it profit a man if he achieves unity but suffers the loss of his soul??

Zhombre

Thank you, suek. Honestly, amoeba is what came to mind. A sort of undifferentiated plasma of like minds. How can you include those who exclude you or don’t have any strong opinions one way or the other about you but who wish to be excluded? Some people simply prefer being left alone.